Why cant we play Garlean empire?

[Duelle]

ah right, we should all just forget about the fact that the garleans are the ones who summoned dalamud which in turn released the elder primal, bahamut, who destroyed Eor'zea with his flames of destruction.

You're blaming an entire empire for one guy and his troops that willingly broke away and decided to destroy the world instead of conquer it as it had been ordered to him. The meteor thing was all Nael, not really from the empire's agenda (in 1.0 both Cid and Gaius mentioned that it was a crazy idea and that it would cause destruction on a then unknown level).

[Enkidoh]

Just look around Mor Dhona - that Twelve-forsaken wasteland is a result of the Empire's meddling. If they hadn't came calling with the Agrius in 1562 6AE then Mor Dhona would have still been the fertile arcadia it was two decades before.

However, due to the crash of the Agrius rupturing the seal on the lake, the resulting explosion forever disrupted the aether flow through the area (and thus, Eorzea as a whole), and sent the place into a long, inexorable decline. Vegetation died, the land itself crystallized and the local wildlife mutated into aggressive abominations. Yes, the Empire are the good guys, really. /sarcasm

[shinros]

I don't ever recall calling the empire good guys. All I am saying is that the city states are not all that "good" either.

[Gonzothegreat198]

I would love to play as a character in the Garlean empire. My sith was ruthless when I played SWTOR, don't see what would be so wrong with allowing players to be the Garlean empire here. I would love to have the Gun shields and the Magitek armor. After I first heard about and then researched ARR i was totally shocked that they didn't allow you to play the Garleans, I mean THAT would be the best PVP Scenarios.

[gadenp]

As in real life, there is (most of the time) no true totally righteous and totally evil faction.

Even if the leaders are corrupt or totally righteous, the faction as a whole is near always never totally bad or good.

In fact, I think FF14 makes pain to show that each side has their goods and bads. Their moral ethics and their sins.

In the end each faction are made up of people and people are never sinless.

In fact, in real life, if a mass amount of refugees flock to your country. Will you give them free rein to do what they like in your backyard. Look at Australia, the Middle East, America, Europe, etc. In reality, as a whole most people dislike refugees "invading" their countries.

Look at China history of the Middle Kingdom, the good and the bad is oh so extreme either way.

Remember Roman, they are alot like the Garleans. I think the Romans are more ruthless and cruel comparatively. But on the other hand, Rome did much good too.

Look at the British how they treated the Indians, South East Asian, etc. But they brought alot of disciplines, structure and order too.

Look at America, if you think America is all great. Look at the countries they "helped" or "occupied". Look at the mess they made in Vietnam and Cambodia, etc. But at the same thing they did good too.

In FF14 no nation is all good or bad. And I kind of like that. As in real life, nothing is fully black or white. Every nation or faction is neither good or bad. But they have one thing is common, they all want to advance themselves even at the expense of other factions.

[Enkidoh]

But the Empire itself was responsible for Dalamud's fall in the first place - Cid was the original engineer on the project, the Emperor fully supported it right up to the Battle of Carteneau - only Gaius was ironically the only one who felt it was overkill. Cid of course also realized the insanity of the whole thing (apparently when an experiment on the project went horribly wrong), and switched allegiances. But the fact is, Dalamud and the Calamity was always the fault of the Empire itself, not just Nael.

Really, Garlemald is a nation with a severe inferiority complex due to their natural ineptitude with magic. So they created magitek and conquered virtually everything outside of Eorzea. It's as simple as that.

[Conradus]

But the Empire itself was responsible for Dalamud's fall in the first place - Cid was the original engineer on the project, the Emperor fully supported it right up to the Battle of Carteneau - only Gaius was ironically the only one who felt it was overkill. Cid of course also realized the insanity of the whole thing (apparently when an experiment on the project went horribly wrong), and switched allegiances. But the fact is, Dalamud and the Calamity was always the fault of the Empire itself, not just Nael.

Really, Garlemald is a nation with a severe inferiority complex due to their natural ineptitude with magic. So they created magitek and conquered virtually everything outside of Eorzea. It's as simple as that.

Not just that. This whole mess with the primals? That's their fault too. Midgardsormr was the guardian of the aether who kept the primals safely locked up--until the Empire killed him at Silvertear (that's his corpse in the massive wreckage of the Agrius in Mor Dhona).

[Sephirah]

Because this isn't WoW, and we aren't the Alliance Vs Horde. We are all on the same side fighting to defend Eorzea against primals/Garlean Oppression/some other things I wont say due to spoilers.

[Gonzothegreat198]

Because this isn't WoW, and we aren't the Alliance Vs Horde. We are all on the same side fighting to defend Eorzea against primals/Garlean Oppression/some other things I wont say due to spoilers.

Actually that's not an accurate comparison. This would be in no way Alliance vs. Horde. The way it is set up is more Star Wars esque: Republic/Jedi vs Empire/Sith. I mean if you actually take a look at it the correlations between this game and that are blaringly obvious.

[lord_naarghul]

The reason why you can't play the Garlean Empire is probably for the same reasons you can't play or ally with the Thalmor in Skyrim. They are an antagonistic organization, and play a role in the world's troubles if not directly being their source.